The present invention relates to a connector wherein it is detected whether or not a pair of connector housings which are engaged with each other are in a complete engagement state.
Connectors have been widely used for simply effecting mechanical engagement and electrical connection. Although these connectors are easy to handle, there are cases where they are left as they are in a half engagement state. When they happen to disengage from each other, or electrical connection becomes incomplete accidentally, there has been a probability of causing the malfunction of the equipment. Accordingly, there have been proposed numerous connectors which are able to confirm that firm mechanical engagement has been effected reliably.
For example, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 10-177880A, a connector is proposed which facilitates the attachment or detachment of a connector housing, which makes it possible to easily confirm that mechanical engagement has been effected reliably, and which prevents the connector housing from disengaging due to careless or erroneous operation.
In the related connector, however, since a member for engaging the pair of connector housings, a member for preventing the disengagement due to careless or erroneous operation, and a member for retaining the disengagement preventing action are separately provided, the structure is made complex, and the size of the connector is made large. In addition, due to the complex structure, an expensive molding die is required for the mass production of connectors, so that it is difficult to lower the total manufacturing cost.